Diseased ‘Purple Pony’ flowering plum. - Ask Extension
Two 6-yr. old otherwise lush and healthy trees are suddenly defoliating. Leaves have some brown areas but no obvious pests are visible. Any ideas of...
Knowledgebase
Diseased ‘Purple Pony’ flowering plum. #868269
Asked May 13, 2024, 5:12 PM EDT
Two 6-yr. old otherwise lush and healthy trees are suddenly defoliating. Leaves have some brown areas but no obvious pests are visible. Any ideas of cause and/or treatment? The trees are in an area of well-watered and fertilized lawn, street side. They bloomed beautiful this Spring, fully leafed out, and are now rapidly dropping their leaves. Help please.
Jackson County Oregon
Expert Response
Most problems of leaf drop on your plum trees are cultural and environmental in nature, so examine these first. Some of these may include: Herbicide damage; Inadequate water or nutrients; Space or sunlight inadequacies; Deficient soil; Low pH; Temperature; Root damage from cultivation, disturbance or nearby construction.
Thank you Chris,
Do you have any idea if they can recover? Our yard service put ‘Weed ‘n’ Feed’ on the surrounding lawn this Spring. Would that be enough of an herbicide to damage the mature trees, do you think?
None of the other possibilities would seem to apply in our case. Any ideas on how to proceed in caring for them at this point?
Thank you for your time and attention. We love our trees.
Patty and Harold
On May 16, 2024, at 9:12 PM, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
Sent from my iPad
On May 16, 2024, at 9:12 PM, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
Yes. The "weed and feed" could have had an affect on your trees.
This is something we always warn home owners about that have lawns and trees in coexistence.
This is something we always warn home owners about that have lawns and trees in coexistence.
